The Accelerating Medicines Partnership (AMP) was launched in 2014 as a public-private partnership to spur development of new therapeutic options for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Five years in, this unprecedented public-private effort is achieving its major milestones and yielding tools to accelerate potential new drug discoveries. The Rheumatology Research Foundation is…
Dozens of rheumatology leaders met with more than 100 politicos on Capitol Hill in mid-May, per the ACR’s annual Advocacy Leadership Conference. Armed with research and advocacy training concerning a handful of important issues, rheumatologists, researchers, government affairs specialists and others met with federal lawmakers, legislative aides and correspondents. The two-day conference, which featured the…
A group led by Sarah Ringold, MD, MS, assistant professor of rheumatology at Seattle Children’s Hospital, has developed a new guideline intended to provide recommendations for the treatment and monitoring of children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) manifesting as non-systemic polyarthritis, sacroiliitis or enthesitis.1,2 Key Updates The new recommendations appear in both Arthritis & Rheumatology…
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—U.S. President Donald Trump called on Congress on Thursday to pass legislation to protect patients from surprise medical bills from out-of-network doctors that can unnecessarily cost patients tens of thousands of dollars. In remarks at the White House, Trump unveiled principles the administration will send to congressional lawmakers to incorporate into a legislative package…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Results from a substantial proportion of large, registered, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) can go unpublished for years after their completion, researchers report. “These unpublished and unreported trials include a vast number of patients, about 90,000,” Dr. John P. A. Ioannidis from Stanford University in California told Reuters Health. “Many people think that…
For RA patients, a low score on the patient global assessment of disease activity as measured by a visual analog scale (PGA-VAS) is necessary to confirm remission. However, limited patient health literacy combined with the complexity of the scale may result in discrepancies between the PGA-VAS and provider assessments of disease activity. New research examined the patient perspective on the PGA-VAS and its connections to health literacy and disease state…
As soon as pediatric patients are diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), they should also be screened for uveitis, says ophthalmologist Gary Holland, MD. Otherwise, the University of California, Los Angeles, provider says, “Kids who are diagnosed with JIA may not come to an ophthalmologist until they have vision-limiting complications.” Uveitis is the most common…
On May 16, ACR and ARP leaders serving on the Board of Directors, Affiliate Society Council, Government Affairs Committee, Committee on Rheumatologic Care, RheumPAC and Insurance Subcommittee will go to Capitol Hill to advocate on behalf of the College’s membership and our patients. The group represents 31 states and the District of Columbia, and will…
The ACR recently issued three new position statements on key issues facing rheumatologists and patients with rheumatic diseases: step therapy, affordable prescription drug pricing and a special waived test designation for synovial fluid crystal analysis performed by rheumatologists. Here is a detailed look at each. Addressing Step Therapy Step therapy or fail first protocols require patients…
Over the past decade, physicians, patients and policy makers have expressed increasing concern about the high frequency of opioids being prescribed and the association between opioid use and poor outcomes. Rates of opioid prescriptions in the general population rose considerably from the 1990s through 2010, with a plateau in the early 2010s. In 2015, 38%…